"He now wants to leave the Embassy of Ecuador in London and request France for an appropriate motion to offer him asylum in order to protect him from US prosecution," the lawyer stated.

According to Branco, his client has good reason to believe he will be extradited to the US the moment he leaves the embassy. "There were threats to hand Julian Assange a life sentence, even from Donald Trump himself a few weeks ago," the lawyer explained.

Earlier in 2015, Assange sent an open letter to then-president of France Francois Hollande asking for political asylum. Among other things, the WikiLeaks founder said that his further stay in the embassy, where he was confined since 2012, constituted a danger to his physical and moral health.

The Elysee Palace declined Assange’s request then. For now, the lawyer said, all that is left is the hope that the position of current French President Emmanuel Macron will turn out to be different.